EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations expire certain provisions of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (the “first Act”) and the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020 (the “second Act”). They also suspend a provision of the second Act.

These Regulations expire the following provisions—

Regulation 4 suspends the operation of paragraph 24 of schedule 1 of the second Act which places a duty on the Scottish Ministers, in conjunction with the Registrar General for Scotland, to take such steps as considered necessary to ensure the continued availability of the solemnisation of marriages and registration of civil partnerships. It also requires the Scottish Ministers to report periodically on the steps taken to comply with that duty and on the number of marriages solemnised and civil partnerships registered during each reporting period.

Regulation 5 saves the effect of paragraph 15 of schedule 7 of the first Act for the purposes of the definition of the 2012 Act in relation to paragraph 19 of schedule 7.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument.